The Art of Thinking Clearly: Better Thinking, Better Decisions

See also Hindsight Bias (ch. 14); Story Bias (ch. 13); Fallacy of the Single Cause (ch.
97)

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79
WHY YOU IDENTIFY WITH YOUR FOOTBALL TEAM
In-Group Out-Group Bias
When I was a child, a typical wintry Sunday looked like this: my family sat in front
of the TV watching a ski race. My parents cheered for the Swiss skiers and
wanted me to do the same. I didn’t understand the fuss. First, why zoom down a
mountain on two planks? It makes as little sense as hopping up the mountain on
one leg, while juggling three balls and stopping every 100 feet to hurl a log as far
as possible. Second, how can one-hundredth of a second count as a difference?
Common sense would say that if people are that close together, they are equally
good skiers. Third, why should I identify with the Swiss skiers? Was I related to
any of them? I didn’t think so. I didn’t even know what they thought or read, and if I
lived a few feet over the Swiss border, I would probably (have to) cheer for
another team altogether.
This brings us to the question: does identifying with a group – a sports team, an
ethnicity, a company, a state – represent flawed thinking?
Over thousands of years, evolution has shaped every behavioural pattern,
including attraction to certain groups. In times past, group membership was vital.
Fending for yourself was close to impossible. As people began to form alliances,
all had to follow suit. Individuals stood no chance against collectives. Whoever
rejected membership or got expelled forfeited their place not only in the group, but
also in the gene pool. No wonder we are such social animals – our ancestors
were, too.
Psychologists have investigated different group effects. These can be neatly
categorised under the term 
in-group-out-group bias
. First, groups often form
based on minor, even trivial, criteria. With sports affiliations, a random birthplace
suffices, and in business it is where you work. To test this, the British psychologist
Henri Tajfel split strangers into groups, tossing a coin to choose who went to
which group. He told the members of one group it was because they all liked a